Twentieth Century Poetry & Drama. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.IMPORTANT!

This is the ROBERT TEMPLE BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ARCHIVE. It contains descriptions and notes relating to almost 18,000 titles in the fields of British and American literature, being the bulk of the stock that has passed through our hands since 1984, with the addition of a few earlier items of especial interest. Books currently in stock are not included, and it is therefore necessary to supplement your search by looking at our Current Catalogues. For the most part full bibliographical descriptions are given, though for some earlier items, catalogued when computing space was more restricted the details given are quite brief. For an account of the conventions adopted, the abbreviations used, and reference sources consulted, please see our information pages.

Please note: The arrangement here is the same as that adopted in our current catalogues, and as there our larger files are presented in sections for ease of downloading. At the end of each section you are invited to browse the next.

ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKS POETRY BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ARCHIVE, File L: Twentieth Century Poetry & Drama. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.

ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKS POETRY BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ARCHIVE, File L: Twentieth Century Poetry & Drama. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.

[MASEFIELD (John).]. The fancy By John Hamilton Reynolds. With a Prefatory Memoir And Notes by John Masefield And Thirteen Illustrations By Jack B. Yeats, Elkin Mathews, Vigo Street. London, W, N.D. [1905]. F'cap 8vo; title-page printed in red and black; illustrations in text; final blank; pp.[ii]+88+[ii]; drab large wrappers, printed in black on front cover and up spine; a.e. uncut; issued without end-papers. Very light foxing of edges and final blank; otherwise a fine, unopened, copy.

A later issue, dating from after 1912, the wrappers bearing the publisher's address as ‘CORK STREET', which he moved to in that year. The price also has been increased from a shilling to ‘HALF-A-CROWN NET', which may suggest war-time paper shortages. The book was issued in 1905, and in 1906 designated as the first volume of ‘The Satchel Series', a name which was included only on the wrappers: it is not present here. Masefield's Introduction occupies pp.[7]-29. Not in Handley-Taylor's Masefield Bibliography; Nelson, ‘Elkin Mathews', pp.65 and 218 (recording the book as 1905.25). Nelson seems not to have known about the present issue.

‘Second Edition, April, 1910, Revised and Enlarged' - copyright page. Issued as No.13 in the Vigo Cabinet Series, replacing the earlier volume of the same title. Published in wrappers at 1/-, as here, or in cloth at 1/6d. Some pieces from the first edition are here omitted, others are included from Masefield's scarce first book, ‘Salt Water Ballads', whilst others again are here first collected. Included also is a brief authorial ‘Note to the Second Edition', here first printed. Nelson, 1903.12, note, and 1910, 24, refer: Nelson, who apparently had never seen this volume, badly muddles the entry - despite having an excellent Masefield letter in his possession, which makes the position crystal clear - confusing this, which is just called ‘Ballads' with the further extended edition of the same year, which is called ‘Ballads and Poems'. ‘Ballads and Poems' was issued in September, at 2/6d. in cloth, uniform with the cloth edition of the present volume, which it effectively supercedes, reprinting the whole contents (with at least one minor correction), and adding a further nineteen poems. Since ‘Ballads and Poems' was envisaged before the present volume went to press, this edition of ‘Ballads' was possibly printed short: it is at any rate, in our experience, a good deal scarcer than either the first edition or the later one. There are, nonetheless, two issues (more probably representing just an accidental variation in the paper stock than two clear printings), the first, according to Nelson, being on paper watermarked ‘Abbet Mills Greenfield', and the second without a watermark. This is Nelson's ‘first issue'.

ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKS POETRY BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ARCHIVE, File L: Twentieth Century Poetry & Drama. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.

MASEFIELD (John). Good Friday: A play in verse. William Heinemann, 1917. Blue linen grain cloth ruled blind and lettered gilt on front cover, lettered and blocked gilt on spine. A near-fine copy in the dust-wrapper.

The first regular trade edition. The price on the dust-wrapper of this copy has been altered by hand from 3/6 to 5/0.

ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKS POETRY BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ARCHIVE, File L: Twentieth Century Poetry & Drama. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.

MASEFIELD (John). Easter: A play For singers. William Heinemann Ltd., 1929. Final blank; copyright slip tipped in after dedication leaf; blue buckram ruled blind on front cover, ruled and lettered gilt on front cover and up spine. Near fine copy in dust-wrapper.

ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKS POETRY BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ARCHIVE, File L: Twentieth Century Poetry & Drama. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.

MASEFIELD (John). End and beginning. William Heinemann Ltd, 1934. Blank before half-title, two at end; blue buckram blocked blind on back cover, lettered gilt up spine; cream end-papers. A near-fine copy.

With the author's signed holograph presentation inscription, undated, on the verso of the front binder's blank, and a later presentation inscription from John Bayliss on the recto. Apart from a single wire-stitched unbound copy which passed through our hands some time ago, we have been unable to trace any record of this collection, which was evidently a small private issue. Our earlier copy had a presentation inscription from the author dated 1916, and we assumed the inscription to reflect the date of printing, though the typography looks older, and it is not impossible, with its ballades, rondel, and sonnets, its echoes of Baudelaire and de Musset, and its mention of Rossetti, that the volume may date from as long ago as the 1890s, together with the public bulk of Mason's work.

ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKS POETRY BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ARCHIVE, File L: Twentieth Century Poetry & Drama. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.

MASON (Eugene). The ivory gates. [Colophon:] Cheltenham: Printed at the "Looker-on" office. No publisher, no date [c.1916]. One gathering of thick paper, double f'cap 16mo, wire-stitched, unpaginated; half-title not called for; issued without wrappers. First and last page lightly dusty; otherwise a fine copy. Rare.

With the author's signed holograph presentation inscription, dated ‘July 14.16' on the upper margin of the title-page. We have been unable to trace any record of this collection, which was evidently a small private issue, and we have assumed the inscription to reflect the date of printing. The typography, however, looks older, and it is not impossible, with its ballades, rondel, and sonnets, its echoes of Baudelaire and de Musset, and its mention of Rossetti, that the volume may date from as long ago as the 1890s, together with the public bulk of Mason's work.

ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKS POETRY BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ARCHIVE, File L: Twentieth Century Poetry & Drama. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.

MATHERS (E. Powys). Black marigolds: being a Rendering into English of The "Panchasika of Chauras" By E. Powys Mathers, author of "Coloured Stars". Oxford, B.H. Blackwell, N.D. [1919]. Sq.cr.8vo, 24pp., sewn as a single gathering into mustard wrappers, the front wrapper printed in black; blank before half-title, blank at end, serving as paste-downs; uncut edges. In general nice.

ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKS POETRY BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ARCHIVE, File L: Twentieth Century Poetry & Drama. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.

MAUGHAM (W.S.). East of Suez: A play in seven scenes. 1922, London: William Heinemann. Sm.cr.8vo; final blank; pp.[viii]+130+[ii]; deep scarlet coarse linen, blocked with publisher's device black on back cover, blocked and lettered black on front cover, lettered and with short rule black, on spine. Fine copy.

Toole Stott, p.38: the 3s. 6d issue, in cloth. The play was also issued in buff paper wrappers at 2s. 6d. In this copy, the penultimate five lines on p.25 show evidences of risen spaces and quads: state or issue significance, if any, undetermined.

ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKS POETRY BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ARCHIVE, File L: Twentieth Century Poetry & Drama. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.

MAUGHAM (W.S.). Loaves and fishes: A comedy in four acts. 1924, William Heinemann Ltd. Globe 8vo; pp.[viii]+191+[i (blank)]; scarlet linen blocked with publisher's device black on back cover, blocked and lettered black on front cover, lettered and with short rule gilt on spine. Light foxing of edges and prelims.; inscription on front end-paper; otherwise a very nice copy.

Though the fact is nowhere stated on the volume, issued upon first publication as the eighteenth volume of ‘The Plays'. The more expensive issue, in cloth, published at 3/6.

ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKS POETRY BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ARCHIVE, File L: Twentieth Century Poetry & Drama. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.

MEGROZ (R.L.). Personal poems. Elkin Mathews, Cork Street, 1919. 12mo; blank at front, two blanks at end, the first and last serving as paste-downs; pp.[iv]+[88]+[iv]; five line Errata slip tipped in after last page of text; cream laid boards, cut flush, printed brown on sides. Fine copy in torn and slightly frayed dust-wrapper, strengthened with tissue on verso.

With the author's signed holograph inscription on the half-title. A very elegant little volume, printed for Mathews at The Pelican Press. Nelson, 1919.4; Reilly, p.22.

First English edition of a work published in the U.S.A. in 1876. A splendid piece of book making after a Victorian model, evidently produced under the supervision of Michael Sadleir. Issued as Vols.XIV and XV of the Standard edition of the Works. Blanck, 13680/14, 15, failing to note that this was the first English edition. Only 750 copies were printed.

ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKS POETRY BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ARCHIVE, File L: Twentieth Century Poetry & Drama. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.

MEREDITH (George). The British Academy. The tercentenary of Milton's birth. Inaugural meeting At the theatre Burlington Gardens Tuesday, December 8, 1908 (The Eve of the Tercentenary). Lines by Mr. George Meredith, O.M., Written in honour of the occasion. Single sheet, folded, Imp.8vo in size, printed in black and red, the title occupying p.1, the text (protected from offsetting by a tissue) pp.2-3, p.4 blank. A fine copy. Rare.

Review copy, with the publisher's Presentation Copy stamp in purple on the lower margin of the title-page. The inside front wrapper bears the small book-label of Fred Riley, and the front wrapper bears the unobtrusive inscription ‘Riley / 314'. The author's scarce first book.

Presentation copy, inscribed on the half-title in the author's holograph: ‘C.L. Morris from his friend / the writer. / 27/10/15.' The painter Cedric Morris was the dedicatee of Meyerstein's 1928 volume, ‘The Boy'.

Presentation copy inscribed on the upper margin of the half-title in the author's holograph ‘Cedric [L. Morris] from Edward'. The painter Cedric Morris was the dedicatee of Meyerstein's 1928 volume, ‘The Boy'. Issued as No.XI of the "Adventurers All" Series.

Presentation copy inscribed on the front end-paper in the author's holograph: "E.H.L. / from Christopher Middleton / July 1944." The author's first book. Of the thirty-nine poems in the volume, only two had been previously printed.

ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKS POETRY BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ARCHIVE, File L: Twentieth Century Poetry & Drama. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.

MILLER (F. Gerald). The New Circe: Poems. Elkin Mathews, Cork Street, 1914. Roy.8vo in half sheets; pp.[64]; brown wrappers printed in black, the inside and back wrappers bearing advertisements; fore- and lower- edges uncut; issued without end-papers. Large edges of wrappers a little frayed, and with one chip; foxed; otherwise a nice copy.

Issued as No.17 of the ‘Vigo Cabinet Series, Second Century', a fact only stated on the wrappers. The listing of this series on the inside front wrapper running to No.18. The wrappered issue, published at 1/-; the cloth issue was 1/6d.

One of an edition hand-set and printed by Toni Savage at the New Broom Private Press, 78 Cambridge St. Leicester in an edition limited to 140 numbered copies, on paper made at Sheepstor, Devon. The illustrations by Dante Gabriel Rossetti are here first published.

From the library of Eric Quayle, with his 1962 ‘Greensleeves' bookplate on the front end-paper. Verses from ‘The Day's Play' and ‘The Sunny Side', together with some others here first collected from ‘Punch'. Published at ‘One Shilling and Sixpence net'.

From the publisher's file, and bearing their small ‘File Copy' label on the spine of the dust-wrapper. Includes ‘To Have the Honour', ‘Ariadne, or Business First', ‘Portrait of a Gentleman in Slippers', and ‘Success'.

ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKS POETRY BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ARCHIVE, File L: Twentieth Century Poetry & Drama. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.

MILNE (A.A.). Sarah Simple: A Comedy in Three Acts. Samuel French Limited, London, 1939. Demy 8vo; half-title not called for; half-title not called for (though allowed for in the pagination); pp.[3]-74; light blue-green paper wrappers, cut flush, printed in purple on front and back wrapper and down spine; issued without end-papers. Short tear in fore-margin of front wrapper, otherwise a nice copy of a scarce title.

Issued as No.187 of French's Acting Edition. Later issue, the front wrapper bearing the legend ‘Revised price / Four shillings / Net'. First produced at the Garrick Theatre, London, on May 4th, 1939.

A single long (and serious) poem on the subject of religious faith (or lack of it): "In every country throughout the ages men have bowed down to gods of their own imagining.... To-day, when we talk of ‘God', we are accustomed to think that we have now made an end of all these false gods, and that, in the place of men's vain imaginings, we have enthroned the authentic God, the objective God, God Himself. It is one of the purposes of the author to suggest that this is not so." - author's Foreword

ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKS POETRY BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ARCHIVE, File L: Twentieth Century Poetry & Drama. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.

MITCHELL (Adrian). Tyger: A celebration Based on the life and work of William Blake. Music by Mike Westbrook. Jonathan Cape, 1971. Perfect bound; black boards, blocked with publisher's monogram device and lettered gilt down spine. Very nice copy in dust-wrapper.

ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKS POETRY BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ARCHIVE, File L: Twentieth Century Poetry & Drama. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.

MITCHELL (Adrian) and MITCHELL (Beattie). [Cover title:] Two For Sorrow One For Joy. Three Poems. [On first leaf recto:] Other Branch Readings No.10. [On first leaf verso:] Printed at Bath Place Community Arts Press, October 1981. One half sheet A5 format; series title / limitation leaf precedes start of text; other prelims. not called for; pale grey wrappers cut flush, printed on front wrapper in black; issued without end-papers. Fine copy.

One of an edition limited to 100 numbered copies. Two of the poems ('On the Beach at Cambridge' and ‘A Valentine Poem for Cathy Pompe's Kids at St. Paul's Primary School, Cambridge') are by Adrian Mitchell, the other ('A Dream') is by ‘Beattie Mitchell (aged 14)'.

ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKS POETRY BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ARCHIVE, File L: Twentieth Century Poetry & Drama. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.

MOORE (John). The Elizabethans: A Dramatic Anthology In the form of a living scrapbook of their poetry And prose, letters, documents, music and songs. Samuel French, London, 1962. Demy 8vo; half-title not called for; pp.[vi]+37+[i (blank)]; buff wrappers, cut flush, printed on front wrapper and spine in scarlet; issued without end-papers. Nice copy.

Known on at least two paper stocks, and in four different bindings, the volume seems to have been run off using whatever stock-ends of paper and cloth happened to be available. Moore's own copy was in a binding of green cloth, which is decidedly the scarcest of the four. The present red cloth version seems usually, if not in fact always, to coincide with the present paper. Moore did not acknowledge authorship at the time - submitting the volume from a false address, through the agency of Fred Marnau, so that even its publisher did not know the author. The book did not sell well, and was not reprinted.

Known on at least two paper stocks, and in four different bindings, the volume seems to have been run off using whatever stock-ends of paper and cloth happened to be available. Moore's own copy was in a binding of green cloth, which is decidedly the scarcest of the four. The present brown and black rexine version seems usually, if not in fact always, to coincide with the present paper. Moore did not acknowledge authorship at the time - submitting the volume from a false address, through the agency of Fred Marnau, so that even its publisher did not know the author. The book did not sell well, and was not reprinted.

Stated on the verso of the title-page to be ‘By the same author' as the ‘Thity-five Anonymous Odes' - i.e., Nicholas Moore - and they are indeed very similar in style. Moore, however, told poet and bibliographer Peter Riley that he did not write this volume. We have to suppose them therefore very good parodies or imitations. The true author has never been identified.